The 700th Experiment
by ghost-of-a-scarecrow
Summary: When Jumba creates a poisonous new experiment, Lilo, Stitch, and Gantu set out to find it.  But when it goes a step too far and injures Reuben, everyone pitches in to use its only weakness against it. Finally finished!
1. Prologue

**A/N: I've decided to re-upload the chapters after editing them; I believe they are better now, and hopefully a nicer read than before. Sorry to those who've been waiting a really long time for an update, I'm hoping to actually get this finished in the near future. Anyhow, here's the updated version of this chapter/prologue, please feel free to review.**

**Prologue**

"Why are we going back to Earth? Not that I have any problem with that, I mean, I'm sure you have your reasons, but..."

"I can't tell you, it's classified information," Gantu answered the little yellow experiment with a grunt of annoyance. Reuben could really talk if he wanted to, and for the last several thousand light years he'd been chattering away incessantly.

"Oh come on, I'm going to find out anyway!"

Gantu sighed. Reuben was right; it was incredibly difficult to keep his missions a secret from the little guy for very long. He didn't show it often, but he was very perceptive.

"The Grand Councilwoman tells me that a new experiment has been activated, number 700, and it's highly dangerous. We have to apprehend it and destroy the little trog." Gantu said. He was piloting his old ship back to Earth for the mission. The BRB would have been too much of a spectacle.

"If you don't mind, big guy," Reuben started, "I'm a bit touchy about the whole 'destroying my cousins' bit. And I'm willing to let that all go, but if you're gonna start using that nickname again, you'll never see another egg salad on your plate at lunch time."

"All right, all right," Gantu interjected before Reuben could say any more. But by now the little alien had turned his attention to the view screens. In the far distance, the small blue planet ceased to be a speck, and became larger and larger with each passing second.

"I just thought of something..." Reuben said after a while. Gantu sighed. The silence had been nice while it lasted. "Why doesn't the Lilo girl just nab the guy and find that 'one place where they truly belong'? She had a pretty nice gig goin' for a while there."

"Because experiment 700 is supposed to be built like 627. She can't do anything about his nature."

"Grand Councilwoman tell you that?"

Gantu nodded. "She also tells me it's far more dangerous than 627 was."

"Wonder if the big cheese has ever tried catching one of us herself."

"Remember that time in the Zeta quadrant when you tried to..."

"I wasn't motivated! If I really had wanted t' get away, she never would've caught me."

Gantu let a smile form across his features and shrugged his shoulders. They were nearly in Earth's orbit. He quickly located the landing area and began to bring the ship down.

"Same place?" Reuben asked.

Gantu answered by landing the ship in the very same place that Reuben had last piloted it from. Of course, the ship had had an overhaul since then, and was no longer powered by sandwich materials. Turning off the pickle-juice-free engines, he got up and walked outside. Reuben followed close on his heels.

"Wow, _exactly_ the same place," said the experiment as he inspected the ship. "Not an inch off. Y'know, I kinda missed it here..."

Gantu ignored him and checked the experiment tracker attached to his wrist. Apart from the small green dot that represented Reuben, and several other purple ones bordering the edges of the tracker, a small pulsing red circle showed him exactly where experiment 700 was. "I don't believe it."

"What?"

"It's at the little girl's house."

"Shoulda seen that coming, big guy."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 (Updated)**

Lilo walked into Jumba's room-turned-lab. She had heard him giggling evilly to himself the night before, accompanied by a few minor explosions, and wanted to see what new and crazy invention he'd been so eager to work on.

"Jumba, what was all that..." she stopped mid-sentence. Stitch crawled into the room on the roof, and subsequently fell head-first to the floor. He picked himself up and stared wide-eyed and curious at the object Jumba instantly moved himself to hide. The large alien sat on his chair looking innocently at the ceiling, a now towel-covered something sitting behind his large mass. He'd covered it up as best he could, but they'd seen it. Lilo walked over and took the towel off of the glass pod, ignoring Jumba's protests. Inside was a very Stitch-like dark purple experiment. The only difference between this one and Stitch was its colour and its teeth, which were dripping with a dark blue fluid. The experiment growled evilly at her, slobbering the blue liquid about the pod.

"Jumba! I thought we agreed that you wouldn't make any more experiments! Nani's going to kill us!" Lilo scolded, but was unable to hide her excitement. She was somewhat unnerved by the new experiment, but it was still an exciting part of her morning.

"But this is not being brand new experiment! Pinky swears! This is experiment 700," said Jumba.

"Nani's still not going to like it."

"Nagha," Stitch agreed. Lilo's curiosity eventually got the best of her. "What does it do?"

"Experiment 700 is being the most advanced of all previous experiments," Jumba explained excitedly. "Even little 626," Jumba laughed when Stitch made an indignant sound in the back of his throat. "His powers are being like those of 626, but with none of 626's weaknesses. Also no 627 weaknesses either. 700 cannot be reverted to good. Perfect for evil geniussing, yes?" Jumba wiped a happy tear from his eye.

"Why are its teeth blue?" Lilo asked. Stitch crawled onto the pod and peered at his new cousin. Experiment 700 had given up an escape attempt and was now sleeping peacefully in the pod.

"You better be keeping away from those," Jumba said seriously. "Very venomous. It will be taking three to four days for venom to kill. No chance of survival without an antidote!''

"What's the antidote?"

"Hot sauce."

"Hot sauce?" Stitch asked.

"Hot sauce is very hot, yes?"

"Yes," Lilo agreed, nodding.

"Venom freezes the blood solid."

"Well, I guess that sort of makes sense..."

A loud cracking noise exploded throughout the room, and Lilo spun around to face the pod. Stitch was still sitting dazed on top of the pieces looking extremely bewildered. Experiment 700 was gone.

"Jumba?"

"I forgot to mention small detail..." said Jumba nervously. "700 has ability to run very, _very_ fast."

Lilo snatched the stock-still Stitch by the hand and led him out of Jumba's room and into the kitchen. They found a very much frazzled Pleakley leaning haphazardly against the counter.

"Did you see anything... experiment-ish come through here, Pleakley?" Lilo asked.

"No, but a small purple tornado ran through a moment ago," Pleakley answered shakily.

"We're never going to find him Stitch," Lilo said as she helped Pleakley to the table and sat him down. Jumba walked in at that moment with a small metal tracking bracelet displaying a pulsing blue dot and handed it to Lilo.

"I stand corrected," she said.

* * *

><p>Reuben sat quietly on the root of a tree and regarded the world around him as he dug into a perfect cheese sandwich. He had missed this planet, he was willing to admit. It was always interesting, and the weather changed often. The weather hadn't really crossed his mind that much when he had lived here, but once it's gone, it's missed. Spaceships were far too dull for his taste. He wondered briefly when it was his love of adventure had settled in his mind; he certainly never thought it would happen. Yet, here he was, sitting on a tree root on the planet Earth waiting for Gantu to come back from the little girl's house.<p>

Gantu had told him to stay there while he visited Lilo, and Reuben had wanted to come along, but Gantu refused. He didn't know why, but he was sure Gantu had his reasons. Reuben was just glad he was given the opportunity to come on Gantu's missions with him. The big guy had no idea how much it meant.

The bushes rustled behind him. He turned around, but saw nothing, and passed it off as the wildlife. But he continued to listen for anything else. A moment later, they rustled again, and Reuben got to his feet, eyeing the foliage suspiciously. Half a second later a dark purple blur burst from the brush and ran by faster than any other creature Reuben had ever seen. He fell over backwards, a searing pain springing up from his chest. It made its presence more thoroughly known as he lifted himself shakily to his feet. What the heck was that? He'd have to be ready for it if it decided to come back. The rustling once again met his ears, this time circling around him like a predator waiting for the opportune moment to strike. The purple blur dashed from the bushes, and Reuben barely managed to jump out of the way, rolling back to his feet. But he fell again when he lost his footing on the soft turf. The pain in his chest returned, dizzying him to no end. He put a hand up to the spot and hissed when the simple touch of the area stung like mad, and when he brought his hand back away from his torso it was covered in dull green blood. He lifted himself once again from the ground; barely keeping his balance, and once again, heard the sound of the foliage behind him. This was not going to end well. But instead of dashing from the bushes as it had done before, the purple creature walked up to Reuben with a smug look on its face, as well as a tremendous amount of bright blue drool. Reuben immediately took a step back, extending his extra arms, and standing his fur on end. He refused to take his eyes off of the experiment he now saw standing before him – he assumed it was 700, the one they were looking for. He also assumed he had absolutely no chance. No chance at all, unless... He'd have to tell Gantu about it. 700 seemed a little taken aback at Reuben's lack of fear, but he got over it and laughed cruelly, mocking his yellow cousin before he struck.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 (Updated)**

Gantu walked with steady determination towards the little girl's house, checking the tracker every other step to be sure the small red dot remained stationary. Then the dreaded dot bolted. It dashed around the island in jerky repetition. He continued on his original course. He thought he might as well find out what the girl knew about this insane experiment.

Five minutes later he arrived at the house. Lilo and Stitch trotted out, closely followed by Jumba and Pleakley.

"Hey, Gantu. What are you doing here? I thought you were working for the Grand Councilwoman now," Lilo said.

"I am. I'm on a mission. I need to know everything you can tell me about experiment 700."

"That sounds like a job from Hamsterwheel!" said Pleakley.

"I assure you, it isn't," Gantu replied, "the experiment is dangerous, and the Grand Councilwoman wants it disposed of."

"That's what you _say_," said Pleakley. Jumba rolled his eyes. "Pleakley, quiet. He is needing to know about experiment, yes?"

"Yes," said Gantu. He checked the tracker again to see if he could make any sense of the experiment's movements. The pulsing red dot on the tracker ceased its repetitive motion, stopping beside Reuben's green one. "But that can wait. It's stopped moving, I'm going to see if I can catch it while it's not flying around the island. I'll be back."

With that, Gantu turned and left, closely followed by Lilo and Stitch, who were giggling at the Terminator-like line that had just come out of Gantu's mouth.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"We're coming with you," Lilo answered, sobering up. Gantu didn't feel like arguing, something about the closeness of the two dots on the tracker disturbed him. He quickened his pace, and they made their way back from whence Gantu had originally come.

When they were a few yards from the location, the red dot scampered across the tracker, while the green one remained stationary. This worried Gantu to no small extent.

"Ugh, I lost it," Gantu said, partially because it was true – he had lost the new experiment – but he also said it to cover up his worry. He had to remain professional. They continued to the small clearing in hope of finding some clues, and in Gantu's case, hoping to find Reuben. The clearing was empty as far as Lilo could tell. They examined it closely and with care. Lilo knelt down to investigate a large patch of churned up dirt. It was mixed into a grainy grey mud, and there were specks of green throughout. She dug into the dirt with her hands, and her heart nearly leapt into her throat when she spotted tufts of golden-yellow fur stained in blue.

"Gantu?"

"Hm?"

"Where's Reuben?"

Gantu looked up from the tracker and focused his gaze on the little girl. "Why?"

Lilo pointed into the dirt. Gantu stepped over and knelt down beside her, running a hand through the greyish mud and feeling his heart sink.

"What's the green stuff?" Lilo asked, looking up at Gantu. The large alien swallowed hard before answering.

"Blood," There was something odd in his voice that Lilo couldn't quite place. Gantu's gaze strayed from the mud, and scanned the area around the clearing, searching. He lifted himself from the ground and wandered into the forest, Lilo and Stitch once again at his heels. After only a couple of minutes, with Stitch's acute senses, they found Reuben lying nearly unconscious at the foot of a tree, his yellow fur caked with liquids both green and blue. Lilo's throat betrayed an involuntary little squeal as Gantu picked him up gingerly in one hand, sitting himself down against the enormous tree. She walked towards him, noting the sadness and remorse the large alien seemed to be having trouble hiding, and Stitch crawled up onto Gantu's shoulder, gazing down at his injured cousin. The yellow experiment's eyes were nearly closed, and his breathing was ragged and uneven. Gantu's arm was already beginning to turn green from the blood that was pouring from the three deep gashes in Reuben's chest and various other cuts, as well as the bite on his arm and the bloody bump on his head. Lilo reached up and moved aside his mottled chest fur to get a better idea of how deep the cuts were. This action received a hiss of pain from the experiment, and she quickly withdrew her hand.

"They're pretty deep, Gantu," she said. "We should get him back to the house and let Jumba and Pleakley take a look." Gantu nodded his consent and stood up. Stitch leapt from his shoulder and he and Lilo led the way.

* * *

><p>Nestled in the crook of Gantu's arm, Reuben was trying his hardest to stay conscious. Gantu reached down and stroked Reuben's forehead with one huge finger. It felt soothing, but he couldn't calm his psyche until he'd told Gantu about the purple experiment. He'd discovered its weakness before it had attacked the third time, but now he was having tremendous trouble trying to communicate.<p>

"Gantu," he whispered, for that was the best he could get his voice to relay. Gantu didn't hear him, so Reuben reached over and weakly pinched the alien's giant arm. Gantu's arm involuntarily tensed, slightly squishing Reuben for a moment. Reuben let out a little yelp, but was just glad he'd finally gotten Gantu's attention.

'Its weakness, I know it...' he managed to say before the pain overwhelmed him again. When Gantu stopped in his tracks, Reuben saw Lilo spin around; the sudden motion made him dizzy, so he closed his eyes until the spell passed.

"What did he say?" he faintly heard Lilo ask.

"Something about the experiment's weakness," Gantu answered.

"But Jumba said it didn't have any faults." Reuben wished they'd stop talking so he could tell them what he knew before he passed out. He reached over and once again pinched Gantu's arm.

"Hey," Gantu complained half-heartedly, and Reuben frowned at him slightly. When he was sure Gantu was listening, he summoned what was left of his voice to continue.

"The poison..." he trailed off. The strange pain in his arm increased, and he squeezed his eyes shut; it felt like his entire limb had just been shoved into a sea of dry ice. He looked back up at Gantu.

"He won't swallow it," Reuben finished in a voice barely audible. His vision blurry, he tried to decipher Gantu's reaction to see if he'd actually heard what he had just said; the voice in his head sounded a lot louder than what was coming out of his mouth. He could hardly see anymore, the pain was becoming too much to handle. He'd just have to be content with hoping that they'd heard correctly. That hope died when Gantu said:

"What?"

Reuben passed out.


	4. Chapter 3

**Last Chapter! (Updated)**

Back at Lilo's house, Pleakley was complaining relentlessly to an uninterested Jumba about his mad scientist antics.

"You've got to stop creating experiments! They're wreaking havoc and you know it!" Pleakley shouted, boneless arms swinging wildly in the air.

"No, only 700 is havoking," Jumba replied in his defense. "Little girl turned the other experiments around, yes?"

"Yes, but there's a poisonous little monster running at the speed of light around the island RIGHT NOW!"

"Faster than speed of light," Jumba chuckled.

"That doesn't change the facts, Jumba! Now you'd better help Lilo catch this one or you're eating broccoli for supper for the rest of the year!"

"Eugh, broccoli. It is nothing but little green trees. Fine, I will be helping."

"That's better. Now go find Lilo and..." Pleakley was interrupted by the loud crunching sound of the roof as it was torn from the house. "Gantu! See, Jumba? I told you he..."

"Be quiet, skinny noodle," Jumba said. He'd noticed Gantu's expression. Lilo and Stitch burst into the kitchen a moment later, a panicked expression on the little girl's face.

"What is wrong?" Jumba was starting to get worried himself.

"Jumba! Reuben's hurt bad! Experiment 700 bit him!" Lilo shouted as she dashed past Jumba and Pleakley into the next room.

'Ya, ya, and...' said Stitch, making a scratching motion across his chest and dashing into the next room behind Lilo. Gantu lowered the unconscious yellow experiment into the house, and Jumba took him tenderly into his arms. A terrible human emotion – something like sadness, or worry – came over him. It was just like the time he had thought Stitch was dead, but less potent. He walked over to the table and set the Reuben gently down on top of it. Pleakley ran awkwardly out of the room and returned with a pile of first aid kits. Jumba gave him a strange look, but didn't question Pleakley's oddness, it wasn't important at the moment. He grabbed one of the kits from the middle of the pile, and Pleakley fell over under the many others that collapsed on top of him. Opening the kit, he set it on the table beside the experiment, all others in the room forgotten for the moment.

Lilo shot back into the kitchen carrying two bottles of hot sauce. Why the hot sauce hadn't been in the kitchen, Jumba didn't question, but took a bottle from her hand and twisted it open. He smoothed it lightly over the blue-oozing bite in Reuben's half-frozen arm. Nothing happened right away, as was to be expected, but after an hour, the effects of the poison was – theoretically – supposed to reverse. Until then, though, his blood would continue to freeze.

"I won't even ask how that works," Pleakley said, referring to the hot sauce from underneath the first aid kits. Stitch ambled over and started digging him out.

"It is all in the chemicals of the venom," Jumba said. "Very complicated."

"Speaking of poison..." Gantu interrupted. Jumba almost jumped. He'd forgotten the giant alien was still there, holding a corner of the roof in one hand and staring down into the scene before him.

"Reuben said that experiment 700's weakness had something to do with it," Lilo finished.

"Ah," said Jumba proudly, as he gently stroked Reuben's fur. "Smart little 625 has noticed 700's terrible drooling problem."

"Drooling problem?" Lilo asked.

"Yes, I now recall that while creating 700, I did not make him invulnerable to his own poison. The problem being, getting him to swallow it." Jumba said. He then turned back to the table and pulled out several bandages and a bottle of antiseptic.

"How do we catch an experiment that's faster than light, invulnerable, evil, and venomous? Let alone make it take its own poison?" Lilo asked.

"You've really outdone yourself this time!" Pleakley yelled towards Jumba, rubbing his head as Stitch pulled away the last of the first aid kits.

"Quiet, Pleakley, and be getting Jumba a bowl of water," Jumba said absentmindedly. Pleakley complied in a huff and wandered over to the cupboards to remove a bowl, filling it with warm water from the tap.

"Stitch has idea," said Stitch quietly.

* * *

><p>It was quiet. Game on.<p>

Lilo crouched in the bushes bordering her home, face painted green and black in a rough camouflage, and watched – waiting. Stitch stood silently in the clearing, blood gushing from a small cut in his arm that he'd given himself. Pleakley and Jumba were hiding in the bushes across the way, wielding a garden hose and camouflaged in a similar fashion. Gantu was nowhere in sight, as he was off to do his part. He was to lure the new experiment to the clearing, where the whole plan would be put into action. It _couldn't_ go wrong. If it did, they'd be in for it. The sound of a blaster met her ears, and Lilo readied herself. It was coming. The others followed suit. A rustling in the underbrush in front of Stitch; the experiment was attracted to the smell of blood. It was designed as a hunter, after all – made to seek out and kill. It dashed from the bushes in a flying purple blur, just barely missing its target. Stitch rolled to the side, turning to face his attacker. 700 did the same. The two experiments stared menacingly at one another, circling, and Lilo noticed a set of deep, partially-healed cuts on the purple back of experiment 700. So Reuben had got a hit in. Stitch revealed his second set of arms and stood his fur on end. 700 smiled wryly. It seemed to Lilo as though the experiment thought this was going to be easy – everything in its manner suggested that it had done this before.

700 struck full force, going straight for Stitch's torso, trying to cause pain and damage there to distract him. Stitch leapt away, then bounded back and bowled into the other experiment. 700 had been taken by surprise, a concept obviously new to him, as he had to take a moment to regain his bearings as Stitch beat away at him. Seconds later, the two were tumbling about the clearing, throwing each other at trees and crashing into the bushes until they bowled into Gantu's giant foot. They toppled to the ground and sat dazed for a moment, before going at it again. They were pretty evenly matched, as long as Stitch managed to stay away from those dripping teeth. But now that they were both tiring, it was time to put their plan into action, and uneven the odds. Lilo clutched the garden hose firmly in her right hand, signalling silently to Jumba and Pleakley across the way. Jumba nodded and signalled to Gantu. Lilo, Pleakley, and Jumba jumped out of their hiding places, yelling at the top of their lungs, wielding the garden hoses. 700 froze in surprise, and Stitch took the chance to get him into a rear one-arm choke, digging his claws into the skin on the other's nose to force 700's mouth open wide. Lilo let fly a torrent of water into the experiment's mouth as it struggled desperately to fill its lungs with air, the passage blocked by Stitch's arm on its throat and the sudden rush of water into its mouth. Pleakley and Jumba joined Lilo in bombarding the experiment with water, and the purple experiment's efforts ended when it finally succumbed to the vast amount liquid, and swallowed a mouthful by accident. Its body started shaking violently, and Stitch let go, running to stand beside Lilo as the experiment fell over, holding its stomach. Gantu scooped it up into a specially reinforced pod, and they carried it, shivering, back into Lilo's house.

"Don't be opening the pod until experiment is completely frozen," Jumba warned, as Lilo and Pleakley ran off to wash away the camouflage paint. Gantu lowered the pod into the living room, then sat down outside next to the small reclining lawn chair Lilo and Stitch had set up. It was lined in pillows and a few folded up blankets, and Reuben lay quietly in the middle of it, unconscious, arm in a sling, and covered in bandages – but on the mend. The hot sauce had kicked in just before they'd left to pursue 700, and by that time Reuben's entire body had been nearly frozen. Jumba had told him that a full recovery from the poison would take quite a while. Gantu hadn't asked them to bring him outside, but he was grateful that they had. He wanted to keep an eye on the little yellow experiment, but he'd never admit it directly.

* * *

><p>When Nani arrived home from work, she had been expecting some damage, possibly a ransacked living room, or a food-encrusted kitchen. Perhaps all of the furniture would be nailed to the ceiling again, who knows? But she hadn't been expecting a torn up roof, a kitchen table covered in green alien blood, a pile of first aid kits on the floor (they didn't even have that many, where the heck did they come from?), and a half-frozen experiment in a giant pod sitting in her living room. And she certainly hadn't been expecting Gantu sitting outside, with a bandaged-up experiment lying in a lawn chair beside him.<p>

"Lilo!" She called angrily, walking past Jumba, who was washing his hands at the kitchen sink, and Stitch, who sat on the table dripping green. Lilo came rushing into the room at top speed.

"Nani!"

"Lilo, what happened here?" Nani asked. It only took about ten seconds for the string of events to come pouring out of Lilo's mouth in an elaborate and barely understandable monologue, accompanied by wild gestures and agreements from Stitch.

"...then I went and washed up and heard you call and then you tried to accuse me of making a mess." Lilo finished.

"I didn't try to..."

"You were thinking it."

"All right, but that doesn't change anything. You are still cleaning it up."

"Hey, Jumba, look!" Pleakley interrupted – inadvertently, of course. He was standing in the living room, staring into the pod where the purple experiment had finally frozen solid. He looked like a fuzzy statue.

"And what do you plan to do with it?" Nani asked the room in general, not really expecting a valid answer.

"I will re-program experiment 700 while frozen, take away poison, and little girl can find one place that he belongs, yes?" said Jumba, as he cleaned out Stitch's cuts.

"Jumba, where did this experiment come from in the first place?" Nani asked suspiciously.

"Uuuuhh..."

* * *

><p>A week later, Lilo and Stitch sat on the porch playing their version of chess – in which Stitch had already eaten most of the pieces – and Reuben was sitting in the lawn chair, happily munching away at a sandwich, watching Gantu attempt to mend the roof. It wasn't working out so well; every time he replaced a beam or made an attempt at shingling, another part of the roof would cave in courtesy of his elbow. Nani had offered to hire someone, but he had been determined to do it himself. When yet another section of roof caved in, he sighed and decided to take a break.<p>

"Nice job, Fish-face, you really know how to bring down the house," Reuben commented as Gantu sat himself down beside him.

"Yeah, yeah," Gantu said in mock annoyance. Normally, the little alien's wisecracks got on his nerves, but this was the first one he'd heard from Reuben since the alien woke up four days ago. It was obvious he was still feeling the effects of the freezing, and the healing wounds were causing him discomfort, but this was solid proof that he was going to be back to his usual self in no time.

A swirling cloud of dust rose up in the distance, heading for them at lightning speed. Seconds later, 700 stood before them.

"Pizza!" Stitch cried, and ran up to his purple cousin, taking the box 700 held proudly out to him. The experiment was heaving from a lack of breath, but he was clearly enjoying his new job: the newly devised paper/mail/pizza delivery man. One of his four arms was piled high with pizza boxes, and a bag full of mail and newspapers was slung over his shoulder.

"Thank you, Fleet," Lilo said, taking the pizza from Stitch before he managed to gulp the whole thing down. 700 nodded, then walked cautiously over to where Gantu and Reuben sat in the yard. He stepped up to Reuben, and said something in their alien language, looking at the floor and ears drooping slightly. Reuben contemplated a moment.

"Sure," he said finally, offering his uninjured hand. Fleet's ears perked up, and he shook Reuben's hand happily, then tipped his messenger's cap and dashed off. Gantu was a little confused, but he didn't think on it too hard. Instead, he busied himself once again with the roof. Lilo and Stitch had consumed over half of the pizza by this time, and Lilo took up a slice, walking over to where Gantu was trying in vain to place the tiny shingles into their proper spots on the roof.

"Want some pizza, Gantu?" she asked, holding the slice up for him.

"Uh, no thanks," he said.

"All right, but it's got anchovies..."

"Tempting, but I'm not hungry." Gantu paused a moment. "Could I ask you something?"

"Sure, but if you want the pizza, Stitch just ate it," Lilo said, watching Stitch swallow the slice whole.

"No it's not that. I was wondering, what were they talking about?"

"Who?"

"Experiment 700 and Reuben."

"Forgiveness, Gantu." Lilo looked at him quizzically, as though the answer was obvious. Gantu couldn't quite comprehend this. Why would Reuben forgive 700 after he'd nearly been killed by him? He expressed this question to Lilo.

"Well, Reuben doesn't like fighting, does he? So I guess he just doesn't see the point in holding a grudge. Anyway, they're ohana."

"But it still doesn't make sense."

"Maybe not, big guy," Reuben said. He'd managed to get himself up from the chair and wander over to where Gantu and Lilo stood talking. He stumbled a few times, and almost fell over before Gantu caught him and scooped him up into his hand. "...but it doesn't make sense that Lilo forgave _you_, does it? Or me, for that matter." Gantu thought this new insight over. He decided that it was the most logical explanation he was going to receive, and let the matter rest. He supposed that it was one of those mysteries he'd never understand – a human concept, possibly – that everyone else would find obvious and he'd look like an idiot when it had to be explained to him. Like rhetorical questions. He nodded his understanding and set Reuben back down in the chair.

"Oh, come on, I just got up!" Reuben complained, but didn't make a move to get away.

"And you'll get up again when you can walk properly," Gantu told him. He turned and continued with the roof, Lilo having gone back to finish her game of chess with Stitch, all of her pieces having mysteriously disappeared.

"So what do you want me to do? Supervise?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Because I'll remind you every five minutes that you're terrible at it."

"I'm terrible, am I?"

"You'll never make it in the construction industry," Reuben said. Gantu smiled to himself as yet another beam of wood snapped. Reuben was right; he was far worse at this than capturing experiments, and that's saying a lot.

"Then I'll make it in the demolition industry," he said.

"Ooh, good choice. Y'know, I was thinking..."

"You know better than that."

"Very funny, but I'm serious. Won't the Grand Councilwoman want us back now that the mission's over?"

"I took care of that. We're staying here for a while."

"Really?" Gantu felt a sort of contentment at the pleased look on Reuben's face. He nodded. But only a moment later, his elbow crashed through the shingles he had just managed to lopsidedly place. Reuben laughed.

"You missed a spot."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: It's officially complete! Hope you liked it, please let me know what you think!**


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